Allianz Ayudhya has set its total premium target at 34 billion baht this year as the company aims to position itself as a leading digital insurer, among other strategies.
Of 34 billion baht, 15 billion is to come from insurance agents and 13 billion from bancassurance, with 5 billion from direct marketing and 1 billion attributed to group insurance, said president and chief executive Bryan Smith.
Along with aiming for the leadership role as a digital insurer, other strategies include offering protection products, maintaining customer satisfaction, and accelerating all distribution channels, said Mr Smith.
The first-year premium target is 6.5 billion baht, comprising 2.2 billion from agent channels, 2.5 billion from bancassurance, 1.8 billion from direct marketing, and the rest from group insurance.
Health and protection products are expected to contribute a combined 45% of total product types.
Mr Smith said the company plans to recruit 6,000 new insurance agents this year, equivalent to a net increase of 450 agents from 11,000 agents at present. The percentage of active insurance agents that are able to sell at least one policy a month is expected to be 30% of total agents, up from 26-27% at present.
The company plans to retain its top position in the direct marketing channel for the ninth consecutive year, while it has maintained a 35% market share for eight straight years.
For the digital distribution channel, Mr Smith said the new online channel is expected to generate sales of 120 million baht, as the company has been expanding aggressively on this platform.
“Digital is the strategy that everyone [in the insurance industry] has mentioned,” he said.
The company has allocated a budget for IT investment worth around 1 billion baht annually to drive forward its leadership as a digital insurer, said Mr Smith.
For last year’s third quarter, the company’s health protection products were reported at 4.8 billion baht, rising by 10.9% year-on-year, above the industry average growth of 8.4%.
The company also received the highest customer satisfaction rating of 23.2% in 2017, while the average satisfaction of the life insurance market stood at 2.3%.